A Schizophrenic Woman with “Goofed-Up” Images

Abstract

Jennifer Knoll was a 23-year-old resident of a relatively structured and restrictive psychiatric halfway house. She had been diagnosed as Paranoid Schizophrenic four years earlier as a result of hearing annoying voices which frequently triggered sadness and crying. She had spent much of the last four years in inpatient psychiatric facilities or halfway houses. At the time of sampling, she was performing quite well in her residential activities, and the residential treatment staff decided near the end of the sampling period to “graduate” her to a less restrictive environment (a cooperative apartment administered by the same mental health care provider group). She received Haldol, an antipsychotic medication, throughout the sampling period, and attributed to it a reduction in the presence of the annoying voices. While she reported that these voices were occasionally dimly present during the three-week period the sampling took place, the beep never occurred during one of those episodes.